By Cassandra Bond
With the election season in full swing, students have been doing their part to stay involved and aware of the 2017 presidential election. Through organizing and recruiting volunteers, making calls, and even going door to door, students at Gunn are hoping to be a part of changing our country on a national level.
Senior Asa Kohrman began her interest in the election when she wanted to find a way to get involved in the political process. “I was reading about the election and how young people are such an important part of the election, so I was looking for a way to get involved.” Kohrman said. She has been staying active in the national election several different ways. “I have been trying to stay on top of things by reading the news, doing calls for the Hillary Clinton campaign for a morning and afternoon, and I also went to the rally when Bernie [Sanders] came,” Kohrman said.
Throughout staying involved with the Democratic Party, Kohrman learned why it is important to be up to date. “I learned how important it is to stay informed,” Kohrman said.I think that throughout this election we have seen that a lot of the people who are voting are looking at it based off of who they think will win,but aren’t informed about policies or how someone will affect our country.”
Other students, like senior Isha Gupta, have also taken on similar roles to aid in the campaigning process for the national election. Gupta started her involvement in May this year by applying to volunteer for the Hillary Clinton campaign. “It is a program for high schoolers or young people who want to volunteer for the program to help out more, as a mix between a volunteer and a staffer,” Gupta said. While volunteering Gupta organized volunteers, recruited volunteers, and called voters to inform them about Clinton’s platform.
Gupta began to notice how many people are aware of the election and the candidates stances, and how many are not. “When we were calling voters, we would have to talk to them about getting out to vote and some people just weren’t informed enough to make decisions,” Gupta said.
However, through the hours of volunteering and phone calls, Gupta saw the difference that getting involved can make. “Change has the ability to come from a large group of people, who aren’t necessarily in power but want to make a difference and want to have a change.” Gupta said. “I think that because of all the efforts we were able to do here, and because of all the efforts our colleagues were able to do across California and the United States, we were able to win, and hopefully make change.”
